


Less Conventional Methods

by Melacka



Category: The Blacklist (US TV)
Genre: Assertive Liz, Cautious Red, F/M, Flirting, Mild Angst, Undercover, holiday fic, mild sexual references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:01:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21951853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melacka/pseuds/Melacka
Summary: Tired of the way their relationship was going, Liz uses the opportunity of an undercover operation to be someone else for an evening.Or, Red and Liz actually talk about their feelings.
Relationships: Elizabeth Keen/Raymond Reddington
Comments: 15
Kudos: 131





	Less Conventional Methods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meetmeatthecoda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meetmeatthecoda/gifts).



> This started out as a simple holiday fic and then morphed into something else entirely. My bad. This doesn't have a set time period and doesn't reference particular events in canon, but I see it as taking place in the later seasons when their relationship is more strained. But you do you. The mature rating is for some swearing and very mild dirty talk at the end. I'm erring on the side of caution there.
> 
> A Blacklist Secret Santa gift for meetmeatthecoda. I hope you enjoy it! A very holiday season to you and yours. I hope 2020 is a wonderful year for you!

Liz shifted nervously on her feet as she stared at the numbers ticking by in the elevator. After a moment, she realised what she was doing and willed herself to relax, conscious as ever of people possibly watching her. How many times had she herself profiled someone based almost entirely on surveillance footage they had obtained? How much information was she giving away in this short journey to the top of the building? She wondered idly what it would be like to just be able to go places and _not_ consider who might be observing her. She dimly recalled a time in her life when she used to do that, when she could move with relative ease and freedom through the world. It seemed a lifetime ago, now.

Liz had borrowed a dress from Samar for the occasion. She hadn’t had time to go home before she needed to be at the party and apart from a rather noticeable difference in height, she and Samar wore about the same size. She glanced down at herself and tried not to feel self-conscious about how much skin was on display. She wasn’t exactly confident in her ability to pull this outfit off, but she had already decided that the best way to get through the evening was to pretend to be someone else entirely. Luckily for her, she knew just the person to create an entirely new identity for her. Tonight, she’d say goodbye to Elizabeth Keen and step into Andrea Deacon’s shoes.

Andrea Deacon was a successful accountant who dabbled in money laundering. She wouldn’t hesitate to wear a tight, low-cut dress and she was perfectly comfortable in those spike heels. Andrea Deacon was a strong, confident woman. She was unattached and unashamed. While Elizabeth Keen balked at the idea of schmoozing the city’s elite, Andrea Deacon merely smiled in anticipation.

She sighed and put her best bland smile on her face, smoothing down her dress in preparation for the evening ahead. They were all arriving separately and had agreed not to interact with each other unnecessarily. Red had provided them with some information about who would be in attendance but had, as usual, kept several pertinent details to himself. Liz was becoming accustomed to this particular habit of his, she saw it now more as a challenge to be overcome, rather than the constant irritant it used to be.

Liz stepped out of the elevator and glanced around the room slowly, locating the rest of her team easily. Ressler was ordering a drink at the bar, Aram was chatting animatedly with a young woman who kept touching his arm playfully, an action that Aram seemed baffled by, and Samar was dancing with someone that Liz was fairly sure ran one of the biggest banks in the country. She didn’t acknowledge any of them, they were all playing different roles tonight and would only check in sporadically. She couldn’t see Red anywhere, but she knew he was bound to be around here somewhere. There was no way he would trust them to handle it themselves and he could rarely resist a party. She caught sight of Dembe as she strolled calmly across the room and she smiled at him in invitation as she passed. She walked up to the far window and feigned interest in the view while she waited. Sure enough, within a minute she felt him come up behind her.

“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” she murmured without looking at him.

“Stunning,” he replied quietly, looking out across the city.

“Are you here alone?”

“No, I am here with my employer.” Dembe finally turned to look at her and smiled. “He is not far.”

“Oh,” Liz replied vaguely, glancing at him quickly before looking out the window again. “I don’t know many people here tonight. Are you able to give me any insight?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Well,” Liz drawled, allowing a flirtatious smile to mask her anxiety once more, “is there anyone I should really avoid?”

Dembe smiled in response and beckoned her closer. She leaned in obediently, thinking to herself that Dembe could probably be quite the charmer when he put his mind to it.

“Avoid the blonde man with the moustache, he is very dangerous and not related to your mission here tonight. It would be unwise to draw his attention unnecessarily. The woman talking to Aram is well-connected but unskilled in these matters, she should be targeted. Agent Ressler has made contact with a business associate of my employer’s, he is talking with him now. This avenue should be pursued if you want this evening to be a success.”

“Anything else?” she whispered, careful to maintain her bland expression.

“Raymond is on the balcony and he would like you to join him when you can.”

“There’s a balcony?”

“Yes, to your left. It is quite well-concealed, no one will disturb you there, I will see to it.”

“Thank you.”

Liz stepped away from him quickly and walked straight towards where he had indicated the balcony was. Sure enough, as soon as she pushed her way outside, she could see the outline of a man near the edge. She shivered slightly in the cold but determinedly stepped towards him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said playfully. “I didn’t mean to intrude on your solitude.”

He turned around to smile at her, the same smile he used when he was trying to charm someone.

“Not at all,” he said smoothly. “I would appreciate the company.”

She approached with her hand outstretched and he accepted it gracefully.

“Andrea Deacon, nice to meet you.”

“Raymond Reddington,” he replied, bending over her hand to press a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “A pleasure.”

“So, Raymond,” the name tasted delicious on her tongue and she savoured it for a moment before continuing, “what are you doing out here all by yourself? You’re not enjoying the party?”

“I was hoping to meet an acquaintance here tonight, but she has yet to arrive.”

“An acquaintance?” Liz said lightly. “Is she a special acquaintance of yours?”

“Oh, she’s very special.”

She felt a rush of warmth spread through her in spite of the cool air on the balcony.

“I believe you could make anyone feel special, Raymond.”

“You barely know me, Andrea,” he rumbled. “How could you possibly know that?”

“There’s something in the way you’re looking at me.” Liz took a careful step closer to him so they were standing almost inappropriately close to each other. “It makes me think that anyone you focused on at any time would feel like the most important person in the universe.”

He smiled at her, slow and teasing. She stared at his mouth, completely unashamed. 

“It’s a dangerous sensation, of course,” she continued. “Intoxicating, to be sure, but nothing more than a façade, I fear.” She stepped back from him and turned her attention to the view. “Unsustainable.”

“You are remarkably perceptive,” he said dryly, turning to face the view with her. “Are you here alone?”

“For now, yes,” she said casually. “But the night is still young.”

“And full of possibilities, no doubt.”

“There is at least one possibility that appeals to me.”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” she said calmly. “Would you like to dance?”

“I would be delighted,” he said cheerfully. “Lead the way.”

Liz laughed and put her hand on his shoulder.

“I think it’s better if you lead, Raymond.”

“You want to dance out here?” he said with a smile as he took her hand in his and wrapped the other around her waist. “Without any music?”

“If there’s no music, you can’t be out of time,” she said happily. “And I like it out here.”

“As you wish.”

Red started to slowly lead her around the balcony in an easy step. She caught herself trying to lead a few times but for the most part, she left him to handle it. She pressed herself closer to him, shivering slightly.

“Are you cold?” he murmured after a few minutes.

“Just a little,” she lied. In truth, she was freezing, but she didn’t want to go inside just yet.

Red started to unbutton his tuxedo jacket, but she stopped him before he could take it off. Instead, she moved even closer to him and wrapped her arms around him inside the jacket.

“Better?” he asked, amused.

“Much,” she said contentedly. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” he murmured, pressing his lips into her hair softly.

“The woman you mentioned earlier,” Liz said suddenly and Red paused slightly in his swaying rhythm. “What is she to you?”

He didn’t answer for a moment and she pulled back her head to look at him, keeping her arms firmly around him.

“It’s difficult to explain,” he said quietly, not looking at her.

“But she’s important to you?” Liz persisted.

“Of course she is, but I don’t know what I am to her.”

“What?” Liz scoffed. “How can you not?”

“To say that there have been some mixed messages between us would a dramatic understatement.”

Liz snorted and leaned her head against his shoulder again.

“We’ve been different things to each other at different times, but never quite what I want us to be.”

“What about what she wants?”

Red laughed loudly and dipped Liz suddenly.

“I have no idea what she wants.”

Liz gasped slightly as Red brought her back upright and resumed their slow circling dance.

“Have you ever _asked_ her?”

“I feel that might be counter-productive, Andrea,” he said calmly, and Liz just barely suppressed a flinch at her assumed name. “We have never had the kind of relationship that encourages open communication.”

“Why not?”

“A lot of reasons,” he said dismissively. “A certain suspicion seems inherent to both our natures, for starters, our work means that we go from allies to adversaries from day to day, and there have been several times when one or the other of us has been right not to trust the other.”

“Sounds very complicated,” Liz whispered, feeling her heart sink within her. “Is there no way through?”

“Not through conventional means, I fear.”

“You don’t strike me as a slave to convention, Raymond. Maybe it’s time to try something a little unconventional.”

“Any ideas?” he said lightly, twirling her away from him and then back into his embrace. “I am open to suggestion.”

“Talking doesn’t seem to be working for you, so maybe it’s time to act.”

“And what action should I take?”

Liz thought in silence for a moment and then grinned as she said, “Is that mistletoe over there?”

“Perhaps,” he said, not turning around.

“Maybe you should have a moment under the mistletoe and forget speaking for a while.”

“And if the lady is not receptive?” he asked mildly.

“Perhaps the lady is waiting for you.”

They stopped dancing and stared in silence at each other. Liz allowed her eyes to dart down to his lips once more, projecting her desire as much as she could.

“Raymond,” Dembe called quietly from the door and Liz nearly groaned. “The lady’s absence has been noted.”

“Damn it,” Liz said quietly.

Red smiled coolly at her and stepped away from her.

“I fear our time has come to an end, Andrea, but I thank you for the advice.” He swept her hand up to his lips and pressed a lingering kiss to her skin. “And thank you for the dance.”

He lowered her hand again and left without a word. Liz watched as he made his way easily through the crowd and straight for the elevator.

“Damn it,” she said again.

* * *

Later that night, freshly showered and dressed in her normal clothes, Liz nervously knocked on the door to Red’s safe house. She'd spent the last two hours working herself up to the point where she felt she could talk to him, but she hadn't really planned what she would say.

“Elizabeth.”

Dembe exhibited no surprise at seeing her so late at night, he simply stepped away from the door to allow her to pass. He silently pointed at a closed door that Liz assumed concealed Red. She nodded her thanks as Dembe retreated down the hall without a word.

Liz took a deep breath as she paused in front of the door, psyching herself up to what could be an uncomfortable conversation. She hesitated and briefly debated within herself about whether she should just come back the next day, before she rolled her eyes at how ridiculous she was being and pushed the door open. Unfortunately, she pushed it with a little more force than was strictly necessary and it rebounded noisily off the wall. Red stared at her in shock as she stopped the door with her hand and moved sheepishly over the threshold.

“Uh—” she said awkwardly.

“Now that’s how you make an entrance,” he said with a smile and Liz felt the little knot of tension she’d been carrying ease slightly. “I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight, Elizabeth.”

He said it mildly enough, but Liz could hear the question in his statement and knew that it was her way in, a way to start the conversation they needed to have. She could ease into it, just like she planned.

“I really wanted to kiss you at the party,” she blurted out and then cringed.

 _Smooth, Liz_ , she thought to herself. _Real smooth._

“Oh?” Red said blandly, an expression of polite interest on his face that infuriated her. “Are you here to collect?”

“Well, yes,” she replied with far too much honesty. She cringed again. “I mean that I – that is, I’m not—” Liz trailed off with a sigh. “I’m no good at this stuff, Red. I don’t know how to—”

She gestured vaguely with her hands, hoping that he would put it together for himself and save her from her embarrassment.

“Don’t know how to what?”

Clearly, he was not in the mood to save her.

“Red, please,” she groaned.

“Elizabeth, I’m going to need you to spell it out for me.” He wandered over to the bar and started to pour himself a drink. “We have had far too many misunderstandings recently and I am far too tired to play any more games this evening. Drink?”

“Please.”

She followed him to the bar and watched as he poured her a drink. She kept her eyes on his hands, mesmerised as always by the grace of their movements. Such beautiful hands for such a dangerous man.

Liz sighed as Red handed her a drink, but she didn’t move away from him.

“Why are you here, Elizabeth?”

“You’re right,” she said decisively. “There have been too many misunderstandings between us lately and I’m sick of it.”

“Are you?”

“Yes, I am.” She gulped her drink down and he raised his eyebrows in surprise at her. “So, I’m going to try something a little different.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I’m going to tell you what I want and ask you to respond honestly. Can you do that?”

“I—”

“I know you don’t want to commit yourself, Red, I’m not asking that of you.”

“Elizabeth, you are the single greatest commitment of my life,” he said wearily, moving away from her to sit in the armchair by the fireplace. “So, when I hesitate, it is not for a want of commitment.”

“What is it then?” she asked quietly.

“Experience,” he said harshly. “My experience tells me not to commit to anything with you, but—”

He stopped talking abruptly and looked away from her. He sipped his drink in agitated silence for a moment. She replaced her own glass on the bar and moved toward him slowly. When she stood directly in front of him, she waited for him to look at her again. When he did, his expression was carefully neutral again.

“But what, Red?”

“My experience is one thing but what I _want_ —” He shook his head again and looked away with a sigh, leaning back in his chair slowly. “When you tell me that you are going to tell me what you want and that I should give you an _honest_ response, I desperately want to believe that it is possible.”

“It is!” she insisted desperately.

“Is it? My experience with you, Elizabeth, tells me that it can never be. But my heart?”

Her breath caught in her throat and she felt the tears begin to build. This was not going like she planned it _at all_. She slowly knelt in front of him and placed her hands on the arms of the chair.

“Red, please, tell me.”

“My heart is a _fool_ , Lizzy,” he hissed. “Every time there is even the _slightest_ chance—"

“Red—”

“An old fool, that’s what I am. My heart has turned me into a _fool_.”

“We are all fools,” she whispered.

“In love?” he said mockingly, and she flinched.

“Would you believe me if I said yes?” she asked him miserably.

He stared at her in silence for a moment and then said, “I want to believe you.”

“Then we come back to my original purpose. Will you let me tell you what I want from you? And will you try to respond honestly?”

“Yes,” he sighed. “Tell me what you came to say.”

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves once more.

“I don’t know how to get past this barrier between us, Red, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”

“The barrier has always been your choice, Elizabeth.”

“It may have been my choice, Red, but you can’t pretend that you don’t contribute to it at all.”

He didn’t say anything, which she took as acquiescence. Or at least, not outright disagreement.

“But like I said earlier, talking hasn’t done has any good lately. It’s time to let go of conventional methods.”

“Oh?” he said, his interest piqued. “And what unconventional methods did you have in mind?”

She grinned at him and removed a tiny sprig from her pocket.

“What’s this?” she said, feigning confusion. “I think it might be mistletoe!”

Red just stared at her silently.

“You still haven’t told me what you want, Elizabeth.”

“I would’ve thought that would be obvious.”

“Humour me.”

“I want you,” she said simply. “I want us to be able to talk through our issues and deal with them like adults. I want to spend evenings with you where we’re not working and we’re not playing games. I just want to be able to be with you and not constantly worry that you’re playing me or using me. I want to make love to you.”

Liz smiled when she saw Red’s sudden intake of breath.

“I want to know how it feels to have you all around me, Red.” She moved her hands, so they were grasping his thighs and he jumped. “To be surrounded by you, consumed by you.”

“Lizzy—” he croaked.

“I want to fuck you,” she whispered, raising herself from her knees and slowly climbing into his lap, maintaining eye contact as she moved. “And I want you to fuck me. I want to still be able to feel you the next day. I want to know how you taste.”

Red closed his eyes as she rolled her hips against him.

“I want to love you, Red,” she whispered. “And I want to know that you love me in return.”

“Lizzy,” he groaned, her name drawn out and desperate.

“But if all that is too much right now,” she continued quietly, extracting her sprig of mistletoe yet again and raising it above their heads, “there’s always this.”

“Mistletoe, Lizzy?”

“Yes, because talking clearly isn’t working. It’s time to try slightly less conventional methods.”

She leaned in close to him but still kept a very slight distance between them. Red searched her eyes desperately and Liz tried to project all her love and desire in her gaze.

“The lady is waiting for you, Raymond,” she whispered.

“I would hate to keep a lady waiting,” Red said and Liz grinned in triumph as his lips finally met hers.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who reads/leaves kudos/comments. I do so appreciate it!


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